Children and families privacy notice

The data controller for the information we collect

Leeds City Council is the data controller for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 2018 and other regulations, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation, which means it determines what your data is used for and why it is collected. The purpose of this privacy notice is to tell you about what information we collect about you when you use our service, how we use that information, and who we may share it with. The contact details of the data controller are Leeds City Council, Merrion House, 110 Merrion Way, Leeds, LS2 8BB.

The following privacy notice provides an overview of what the Directorate undertakes; for further details on the individual service areas, please refer to the specific privacy notice.

The data we will collect

To deliver the Children and Families services, we will process data on:

personal information (such as name, date of birth and address)
characteristics (such as gender, ethnicity and disability)
information relating to episodes of being a child in need (such as referral information, assessment information, Section 47 information, Initial Child protection information and Child Protection Plan information)
episodes of being looked after (such as important dates, information on placements)
outcomes for looked after children (such as whether health and dental assessments are up to date, strengths and difficulties questionnaire scores and offending)
fostering and adoptions (such as dates of key court orders and decisions)
care leavers (such as their activity and what type of accommodation they have)
school admissions and attendance information

How we collect information about you

We collect information about you from you directly (for example, by asking you to complete one of our forms, via the telephone, through our contact centre, or face-to-face). We may also obtain your information from other sources, such as:

your family members, carers or other persons acting on your behalf
internal council departments
public authorities
NHS Trusts
other partners (such as schools and academies and national and local bodies)

Why we use your data

We use your information to:

assess the quality of our services
comply with the law regarding data sharing
equality monitoring
evaluate and improve our policies on children’s social care
financial transactions
identification of families eligible for inclusion in Troubled Families Programme
identify children as part of the CP-IS programme
monitor and report on pupil progress
prevention and detection of crime
provide appropriate pastoral care
regulatory, licensing and enforcement functions
research including consultations
service delivery
service improvement and planning
statutory requirements. For example: reporting to Government
support pupil learning
support these children and monitor their progress
tracking of families included on Troubled Families Programme
traded services
troubled Families Programme payment by results claim
troubled Families Programme spot checks

All the data collected will be treated in strict confidence and in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The data provided by you will only be used for the purposes specified.

Lawful basis for processing

We will process your data in accordance with UK GDPR Article 6(1). The processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that the following applies:

Article 6(1)(a): Your consent

Article 6(1)(b): We have a contractual obligation

In some instances, information is required by contract (or information required to enter into a contract). You are required to provide us with your information to receive this service. The consequences of not providing the information requested are that you may lose any financial assistance from the council towards your care and support fees.

Article 6(1)(c): We have a legal obligation

Article 6(1)(d): We have a vital interest

Article 6(1)(e): We need it to perform a public task.

We will process your data in accordance with UK GDPR Article 9(2). The processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that the following applies:

Article 9(2)(a): Your explicit consent

Article 9(2)(b): To carry out our obligations and specific functions in the field of employment, social security and social protection as laid out in la

Article 9(2)(c): Protect the vital interests of you. or another where consent cannot be provided

Article 9(2)(e): Made public by yourself

Article 9(2)(g): Substantial public interest laid out in law

Article 9(2)(h): Health and social care as laid out in law

Article 9(2)(i): Public health as laid out in law

Article 9(2)(j): Archiving, research and statistics as laid out in law

Our statutory obligations

This means of processing is in order for us to fulfil our statutory obligations under various UK laws, including but not limited to the following legislation:

Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009
contract (traded services)
Local Safeguarding Children and Adults Boards Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/90)
Mental Health Act 1983, 2007
Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities in England to Identify Children Not Receiving Education – February 2007)
The Care Act 2014
The Childcare Act 2006
The Children & Families Act 2014
The Children Act 1989, 2004
The Children and Social Work Act 2017
The Crime and Disorder Act 1998
The Education & Adoption Act 2016
The Education (Information About Individual Pupils) (England) Regulations 2013
The Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006
The Education Act 1944, 1996, 2002
The Education and Inspections Act 2006
The Education and Skills Act 2008
The Equality Act 2010
The Health and Social Care Act 2012
The Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Act 2015
The Localism Act 2011
The Mental Capacity Act 2005

There will be some instances where we require your consent to deliver a service to you. In these instances, you will have the right to withdraw your consent from the participating service at any time unless stated. Withdrawing your consent will not affect any services or benefits you receive from the council. If you wish to withdraw from a specific service that you have consented to, please refer to the service-specific privacy notice.

Data retention, storage and destruction

Our data retention policies and procedures are designed to help ensure that we comply with our legal obligations in relation to the retention. This means that your information will be kept securely and for no longer than reasonably necessary after we cease to provide a service to you, unless the law says that we need to hold it for longer or if there is a business requirement to do so. After this, your information will be deleted or archived.

adults social care
children’s social care
contractors providing education and IT services
department for Education and their agencies
early help services
education providers, including early years providers, pre and post 16
elected members
funding bodies
government agencies. For example DWP
GP surgeries
health agencies
judicial Agencies. For example Courts
other Local Authorities
other youth offending teams
police
probation
pupil referral units
safeguarding boards
school transport operators
specialist teachers
speech and language therapists
substance misuse teams
voluntary sector partners
youth offending service

In addition, we will share your personal data:

where such disclosure is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject
in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person
for the purposes of security and prevention of fraud and other criminal activity
where such disclosure is necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure

Automated decision making

Under CP-IS, the data of looked after children or a child that has a child protection plan will automatically send as an alert to NHS Digital.

Your rights

The following rights under data protection law are applicable for this processing:

the right to access - you can ask for copies of your personal data
the right to rectification - you can ask us to rectify inaccurate personal data and to complete incomplete personal data
the right to erasure - you can ask us to erase your personal data
the right to restrict processing - you can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data
the right to data portability - you can ask that we transfer your personal data to another organisation or to you
the right to object to processing - you can object to the processing of your personal data
the right to complain to a supervisory authority - you can complain about our processing of your personal data
the right to withdraw consent - to the extent that the legal basis of our processing of your personal data is consent, you can withdraw that consent

Where we process data under consent, the right to object to processing (you can object to the processing of your personal data) will not apply.

Where we process data under contractual obligation, the following will not apply:

the right to object to processing - you can object to the processing of your personal data
the right to withdraw consent - to the extent that the legal basis of our processing of your personal data is consent, you can withdraw that consent

Where we process data under legal obligation; the following will not apply:

the right to erasure - you can ask us to erase your personal data
the right to data portability - you can ask that we transfer your personal data to another organisation or to you
the right to object to processing - you can object to the processing of your personal data
the right to withdraw consent - to the extent that the legal basis of our processing of your personal data is consent, you can withdraw that consent

Where we process data under vital interests, the following will not apply:

the right to data portability - you can ask that we transfer your personal data to another organisation or to you
the right to object to processing - you can object to the processing of your personal data
the right to withdraw consent - to the extent that the legal basis of our processing of your personal data is consent, you can withdraw that consent

Where we process data under a public task, the following will not apply:

the right to erasure - you can ask us to erase your personal data
the right to data portability - you can ask that we transfer your personal data to another organisation or to you
the right to withdraw consent - to the extent that the legal basis of our processing of your personal data is consent, you can withdraw that consent

These rights are subject to certain limitations and exceptions. You can learn more about your rights through the ‘your individual rights' page on the right and the Information Commissioner's Office.

Please click on the individual rights page to exercise any of the above rights in relation to your personal data.

Data Protection Officer

Aaron Linden
Head of Information Management and Governance - Data Protection Officer
Leeds City Council
Merrion House
110 Merrion Way
Leeds
LS2 8BB
DPO@leeds.gov.uk

The Council privacy notice is available online.

If you are unhappy with the way in which your information has been handled, you should speak with the specific service in the first instance.

Any data protection complaints about how the council has processed your personal data will be handled in accordance with the council's complaints policy. You can find out how to submit a complaint online.

You can refer to the Information Commissioner if you consider that there has been an infringement of data protection legislation. Further details can be found on the Information Commissioner's Office website.

Changes to this notice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. We will notify you of significant changes to this notice by email or other means as appropriate. This privacy notice was last updated 4 November 2024.

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